The social life of a teenager

Alex is 15 and a freshman in highschool. In the beginning of the year he was on the highschool tennis team. Practice was four days a week with Thursdays being matches. That combined with some honors courses made for little free time. It seemed like some days he was doing school work until 11:00 at night. Then you add the girlfriend and was always busy. I was glad when tennis ended so things calmed down just a little. Then came nordic team. That was HUGE!! Pracitces Monday thru Wednesday at the nordic center and Thursdays were wax days followed by races on Fridays. The girlfriend was gone too. Now it's spring and things have just gotten insane with his schedule. He's working at the tennis center a few days a week, has a new girlfriend, and is participating in two youth groups on three different days. Oh and you must throw in the dates that I have to drive because neither teenager drives yet.

Today Alex and gf get out of school at 2:30 and want to go rollerskating at Northstar. Well Riley has to be picked up from preschool at 3:00 and Olivia gets out of elementary school at 3:15. Not enought time to pick up the highschoolers and take them to Northstar. I think I'll be calling my parents to see if they can pick up Riley at school. So far the carpooling with the gf's mom is going well. I usually only have to drive one way, but I'm literally puttin hundreds of miles on my car with all his activities.

How can you say no though?? I love that he goes to youth group. I do wish Young Life on Sundays and Mondays was closer but Alex loves it and has made some great connections. The Tuesday youth group is the gf's group but Alex likes to go now too. That one is not too bad, but still at hike to get there.

Alex can actually start driving this year, but I'm on the fence about how that is going to go. With living in Truckee and all the snow we get I don't really want him driving on his own during the winter. Plus the thought of putting Tyler, Olivia, and Riley in the car with my teenage driver scares the crap outta me.

Highschool is about figuring out what life has to offer with considerable more freedoms. I don't mind letting Alex do all these things because he's a great kid and has proven himself to be trustworthy and responsible time and time again. I like that he has lots of friends and wants to hang out and enjoy what highschool has to offer. I cannot even begin to imagine what life is going to be like in a few years when I have two in highschool!! It seems like just yesterday Alex was three and Tyler was si months old and my biggest issue was getting Alex to bed and Tyler sleeping through the night. Some days I miss those days!

Exercise

Some either love it or hate it. I love to be outside running with headphones and the music blaring or playing tennis. I am definetly not a fast runner at all, but I break a decent sweat and get my heart rate up there. The first half mile is just horrible though. I try to pick one of my favorite running song to get me going. Once I have that little part done I pick up speed and can run forever!! Today I ran for about an hour and could have gone longer but I wanted to get home and shower. Riley was at preschool today and those mornings that I can actually get into the shower without a four year old in there with me are pure bliss. I love how running in the cool air with loud music makes me feel. I love the fresh start to the day. I know lots of people that run in groups and can talk the whole time their running. Me . . . no way!! I love to put those headphones in my ears and talk to no one. In fact I far prefer running alone to running with someone. I love how when you get home from a run, sweaty, and you sit down with that cold glass of water and you feel such an accomplishment. Today was my first time running outdoors all season. Unfortunately we have had yucky weather, in fact we had a foot of snow last week.

My other favorite form of exercise is cardio tennis. It's basically tennis drills with up to eight people and one tennis pro set to loud music. Cardio tennis is similiar to interval training because you might hit three forehands then run around the court and wait for you next turn. I don't know how many miles you are logging but the hour goes by so fast. There is some down time when you are picking up balls but you're still moving. Love love love cardio tennis. If there was a place that had indoor courts and offered cardio tennis in the winter then I would honestly walk around with a smile all year round.

You know what I don't like though. I hate indoor exercise classes. I really want to like them. I tried spinning classes for a few weeks and I swear I spent most of my time turning around trying to look at the clock. I get way too hot and way too bored. Plus I'm not good at pushing myself to peddle harder and faster up those imaginary hills. I loved the spinning class teacher and she did an amazing job with the class, it's just that spinning is not for me. The other thing I'm not good at is running on a treadmill. I don't care what is on tv or how interesting the people in the gym are, it's just not for me. I find myself watching every 1/10 mile click past. After about twenty minutes I'm done.

In the gym I work better with someone coaching me along. I've tried personal trainers, friends, anyone who will hold me accountable. I think I finally figured out the rules for me though. If I want to stick with the exercise I have to figure out why I want to do it. What am I hoping to accomplish. For me that means fitting into those size 2 jeans comfortably, wearing that bikini and loving how I look in it, and feel good about myself. I have battled issues with my self esteem my whole life and exercising keeps that in control for me.

Girlfriends

What would we do without them???? I have some of the best in the world. You know what I did tonight?? My friend, Heidi called me today and was in a bind. She has three kids an a hubby that works out of town just like mine. She wanted to celebrate a friends birthday at Dragon Fly. She called and asked if I could help her out and watch her daughter who is a year older than Riley. Sure, no problem I would love to watch Julia. I had to drop off and pick up my kids are all their activities and when I got home Heidi shows up ten minutes later with not one but two kids. Apparently Jack also wated to stay. No problem!!! I had dinner ready early because I had to drive Alex and two friends to younglife in Glenshire and it's an hour drive round trip. So six kids got sloppy joes, boneless bbq chicken nuggets, and edaname. Dinner was done and some plates actually ended up in the dishwasher.

I grabbed Alex and we headed out. No sooner do I get home and the kids are in the living room watching tv, then Heidi rings the doorbell. She brings a bottle of wine and we ended up dancing for way too long with the kids to the rock and roll hall of fame 25th anniversary concert. It was so nice to hang out at night on a school night (not much longer) and let loose with the kids. Yall should have seen the kids. They were dancing, laughing, and haveing the best time listening to the music.

Heidi and I are also planning a girls trip. The husbands dont know yet, but man will this be fun. Two years ago five girlfriends and I drove down to Napa, rented a house, and went wine tasting and then did the spa thing for a weekend. It was amazing!!! I'm not sure how wonderful the husbands thought it was having to watch the kids over the weekend but OMG it was just what we needed. This time we are going a little further than Napa. Lets just say it involves a plane and some tickets to attend the "event" but so worth it. Until next time . . .

A sick kid

With four kids at home it's inevitible that the stomach flu hits our house atleast once a year. This year is no different. Tyler came home from a track meet yesterday saying his stomach hurt. Fast forward to this morning when into my room and said that he had thrown up all night long. Poor thing. So he is now relegated to his room and the bathroom only. He's the best one about staying put. I remember being little and being sick. We got to lay on the couch downstairs and watch tv. Nope, not my kids. They are in their rooms!!

I have this huge phobia of stomach flu's! I hate how it tends to spread from one person to another and before you know it the whole family is down. I have a barf bucket in my laundry room that has my cleaning supplies for the stomach flu. It has gloves, a sponge, and bleach. I go in atleast once a day and will bleach Tyler's bathroom and then get a new sponge and do the rest of the bathrooms. Hopefully we can contain it to just him.

Right now Tyler is laying on his bed watching tv on the computer taking little sips of water and hopefully he will hold that down. I should really get to the store to pick up some chicken noodle soup for him. I have to drop Riley off at preschool and then I was going to play some tennis for an hour with a friend. The grocerty store is just down the street from the highschool where I start my afternoon pick up routine.

Say a prayer that it stops with just one child.

Spray Tan

A friend of mine went in with a few other girls and bought a spray tan machine. The three women each take turns using the machine. My friend, H, borrowed the machine and sprayed three of us gals today. Ofcourse an event like this requires a little champagne and brie to go along with it. After a glass or two of champagne we went upstairs to start spraying. I had to pick up Alex from school in less than an hour and didn't want to be late. I had Riley with me too so we put a show on downstairs for him.

I was first and it was't bad. It was a little cold but overall not bad. Once H was done spraying me I used the air compressor hose to dry off areas that were still wet. Most of my body was dry and slight tacky to the touch but that's it. I got dressed and H sprayed E and then I sprayed H. It goes surprisingly fast. I think the three of us got sprayed and it took about twenty minutes total. Riley came in while I was spraying H saying that was done watching his movie.

It's amazing what a spray tan will do for your mood. It's really feeling like spring and maybe summer is actually right around the corner. I kept looking in the mirror of H's bathroom to check out my new color. I love love love it!! H said it should last about a week to ten days. The girls talked about doing this once a week with a little refreshments in the beginning.

Snow in May

I heard some nasty nasty rumor we were getting snow on Monday. I tried not checking the weather because really what's the point? The weather is going to come no matter what I do. I woke up to flurries and in a matter of a few hours we had a full blown blizzard. Riley and I went to a friends house for the morning to hang out and the kidlets to blow off some energy inside. After a few hours Riley and I needed to get home to get on with the rest of our day. At this point it's still snowing but not sticking to the streets. Finally we headed out to Wild Cherries for a meeting with two other moms to coordinate a camping trip for the girls. In the hour we were at Wild Cherries my car was covered in a inches of snow, the roads were covered, and there were times when you seriously could not see in front of you.

Off to pick up Olivia from school. Waiting in the line to just enter the school took ten minutes. Olivia was freezing and covered with snow by the time she got into the car. The biggest thing you need to know about Truckee kids is that they don't wear jackets. At most on a snowy day then might wear a hoodie but that's it. Occasionally if we get three feet and they plan to play in the snow will the actual snow gear come out of the mud room. I pulled out of the school and Northwoods was a parking lot except for the multiple cars sliding sideways down the street. Hmmm, how am I going to get home??

I was trying to pass some time before having to go up Northwoods so we stopped at 7-11 and dropped off a redbox movie. I was thinking of going the back way behind 7-11 but I didn't think I could get up those roads. I took my studs off two weeks ago. So I decided to brave Northwoods. It actually wasn't too bad and the sliding car I had to pass was on the lower section. Then we had the big debate about wether I could get up my driveway and should I even attempt it. Alex said no, just park on the bottom and Olivia thought sliding backwards down the driveway might not be too bad. Amazingly we made it up on the first try. We did a little swerving in the middle section but we got up.

It was only then did I realize that I was going to have to snowblow the driveway because Waltman was done with their end of the contract. They even went so far as to pull their snow poles. HMMMMM So I started dinner, put on my jacket, and snowshoeing boots and blowed the driveway. I've done it for so many years that I can blow the driveway in no time. We ended up with about a foot of snow in May but hopefully hopefully hopefully this is it!!! Either that or there may be a line at the psychiatrists offices with people needing some good drugs!!!

Houses

If you were to ask me what my ideal house would it has definetly changed over the years. When I got out of college and moved to Atlanta, Ga I wanted to live in downtown Buckhead. Atlanta is such a cosmopolitan city. They call it the gateway to the South. There are so many shops, bars, nightclubs and everything is right there. The weather if nice, except in the summer with all the humitidy. I had it all planned out. I was going to buy one of those condos in the city and live, work, shop, party down there. No need to go anywhere else.

Fast forward a few years and Alex is born. Now we move to California and buy a house. I still always wanted to live in a big city but San Francisco was just not an option. We sold house number one and bought house number two even further from the city, but this time we had a pool. Pools are nice and make the summers in Sonoma County much nicer. Then we buy a house in Lake Tahoe because . . . it seemed like a good investment and the weather in September when we bought the house was nice. Plus my parents live in Lake Tahoe.

I always wanted my kids to grow up near their grandparents because it was something I never had. I remember driving to my grandparents house and just dreading the weekend. They were almost strangers most of the time. Now my kids live five minutes from my parents and have an amazing relationship with them. In fact mine take for granted that everyone can go spend the night with gumpa and have pancakes in the morning or pop over for an hour and have lunch.

While I like living in Tahoe I definetly do it for the kids. The winters are hard and can seem endless. Especially when you get a foot of snow in April. Shoot me now!!!!LOL!!! The kids are so involved with everything that makes Tahoe what is is special about living here. But every once in a while I get the house bug to move. This winter was no different, but times have changed. It used to be that you would buy a house, hold on to it for five years and sell it for a huge profit.

The whole time I have bought and sold houses that's how it's been. I definetly recognize that is the exception and not the norm. I can no longer assume that my house would sell for a huge profit and that it would sell at all. I was looking at houses on realtor.com and found some cute houses. Not practical for my family but cute nonetheless.

The other type of house I would love to own is an old Victorian. Petaluma Ca has a few streets that have such houses. I found two that were really cute. Again, not practical for my family but suprisingly affordable My favorite was built in 1885 and has five bedrooms. Sounds great, but it's only 1500sqft. I'm not sure you could even fit a bed in those rooms. The house was completely redone and it has a wrap around porch!!! It interesting how your ideal house changes as you do. Maybe once the kids are out of school and on their own I'll get that fun condo in the city or maybe an old Victorian. Who knows what the future holds for any of us.

Ah Teenagers!!!!!!!!!!

On a regular day I have one teenager and one almost teenager. This week I have two teenagers and one almost. The amount of food is astounding that we went through this week. On Monday I did a mini grocery trip to stock up on the basics, granola bars, milk, fruit, yogurt. In the forty eight hours since, the granola bars, yogurt, snack mix, and fruit are either gone or almost gone. UGH!!!! I need to come up with some plan so they don't go through eighteen granola bars in two days. In the past I've hidden lunch food so no one will find it. Then when I make lunches at night out comes the little bags of chips and granola bars. I feel bad hiding food from the kids, but I don't know how to control the nonstop eating.

Alex will come home from track or tennis and eat two pb&j's, then dinner, then atleast two more pb&j's before going to bed. I guess you need to add a bunch of granola bars and bags of chips to it too. Tyler eats almost the same way. So starting next week I'm going to ration the lunch food. They don't need to be eating endless quantities of chips, granola bars and other lunch items. I used to buy the yoplait yogurts until the boys were eating six a day. UM HELLO!!!!! Now I buy the safeway ones (cheaper and bigger) and we don't go through as much. We seem to be going through peanut butter alot lately!! Again, used to buy jiffy but now the safeway brand. I'm sure its the same stuff but cheaper and in larger quantities.

What's interesting is really from the beginning the kids have been grazers instead of kids who sit down and eat a large meal. Ok, well Alex and Tyler do both now, but at this stage of growing I guess that cannot be eliminated. When they were little they used to always want to eat a little something. The rule was always that they had to sit down at the table and use a plate. No walking around with food. That's not working as much anymore now that they're older. How do I know this??? I find wrappers all over the house, in the washer and dryer, and on their desks.

A surprising offender is Riley. He has learned to pull Maggie's dog food bin up to the shelves in the pantry, climb up and find food. He does this alot!! He also sees the olders eating food all over the house and naturally does the same thing. I can usually catch him in the pantry and direct him somewhere else or insist he sit down with a plate. I think some major overhauling of my kids eating habits are about to take place. I'm not usually one who tiptoes into things. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hurry up and wait

I feel more and more like this is my motto. With four kids all being in different schools and different after school activities I do alot of driving. I typically go through a tank of gas in little less than a week. Every morning I leave the house at 7:10 to take alex to highschool then get on the highway to take Tyler to middle school. Then back to the house to wake up Olivia and Riley. Tuesday through Friday, Olivia, Riley and I have to be out of the house at 8:40 for either school or speech for Riley and school for Olivia. I have almost three hours with no kids during the day, but it's not usually just me doing what I want. Although there are days that I do make it all about me. Today I dropped Riley off at school and came home to clean up after the morning routine. I met a friend at tennis for an hour then it was off to get Riley.

After picking up Riley from preschool we headed to the library to return two books and check out two more books. Unfortunately the books I need for book club are checked out and there are six people ahead of me in the book que. Riley did manage to find two DVD's that we got. After the library we went to the grocery store because it was my turn to bring oranges to Olivia's soccer game. Then home for about an hour and a half until my next round of pick ups.

Now Olivia, Riley and I are off to Reno for a soccer game and will most likely not get home until 8:00. I left dinner for the boys and the one extra highschooler I inherited for a few days because his family is in Socal. The car is packed, snacks are ready, and Olivia has all her soccer gear!!!

Go EXECUTORS!!!!!!

Book Club at Dragon Fly

This book club I'm in is fairly new. We've only met four times and we spend way more time talking, drinking, and eating than we do talking about the book. Our book this month was Water for Elephants. Isn't that how it should be?? Last night was no different. We usually meet at someones house but this time Kris, who's house it was at decied to move it to Dragon Fly Restaurant. I love the food there. It also just happened to coinside with this whole month being half off their menu. Last night also coinsided with the KidZone fundraiser so it was quite busy. To the hostess's credit, when I made the reservation I was told there was a fundraiser going on so it was going to be crowded.

I don't think you can go anywhere in Truckee and not see people you know. That's one of the things I love about living here. Last night was no different. We're waiting at the bar and ran into so many people. Most were there for the fundraiser though.

It took us awhile to get get seated so we opted to move to the bar and have a drink. No sooner was I talking to the bartender when our table was ready. No problem, I'l just order my wine at the table. So many amazing dishes on the menu. We ordered their atomic shrimp, roasted garlic, artichoke, and calamari, and a Hawaiin roll. All the food was great. Now, Paulette had this really amazing looking dish. It was thinly sliced flank steak with peanut sauce and a hot stone that you cook the meat on. That was good. Ijust had to have a taste of that one.

We did talk about the book a little. May favorite part is listening to what everyone likes and dislikes about the book. We even made a toast to Rosie!! We paid the bill and talked about our next book and which person is hosting. Our next book is going to be two books actually. We're going to read Glass Castles and Half Broke Horses, neither of which I have heard of.

Lost cellphones

I was talking on my cellphone while driving to the mailboxes today and somehow got distracted. The call ended and I placed my phone on top of the cluster boxes to open up my mailbox. I got the mail and then drove away leaving my cellphone sitting on top of the mailboxes. I then drove to Olivia's school and proceeded to read US Magazine. About fifteen minutes into reading the magazine I got this sick feeling something was wrong with my cellphone. So I put the magazine done and started looking for my phone. After a few minutes of searching quietly as not to awaken the sick four year old in the backseat I start to panic. OMG where is my cellphone. I realize the last place I had it was at the mailboxes. But I'm not stuck in the elementary school parking lot.

Olivia finally gets out of school and into the car. I drive off to the mailboxes, hitting every light and all the slow cars seem to in front of me. Like they are out to get me. I pull into the mailboxes and my phone is not there. Now panic really sets in. I for some reason has this non-normal reaction to loosing or breaking my cellphone. I start shaking, crying, and generally freaking out. All the while Olivia is sitting in the back seat reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Riley is still asleep.

I pull into the garage and start frantically tearing the car apart. No cell phone. I go upstairs to get the cordless to attempt to call my cell and I have a message on the home phone. Someone from Tahoe Donner tennis found my phone. She picked it up and realized it was mine and called my house. We agreed to meet at the mailboxes so I could get my phone. I saw Linda's car pull up and she got out of the car and she was holding my cell phone. I literally started shaking all over again. I gave her the biggest hug and thanked her profusely!!! So THANK YOU LINDA for finding my phone and getting it back to me.

Now I get to go to bookclub at Dragon Fly restaurant and have the largest drink because I have my cell phone back. So maybe living in a small town does have its benefits!!!!!!

The one home sick

Riley, my four year old is home sick today. He's been getting sick for a few days and even took a four hour nap on Saturday. Yesterday we got home from soccer and he had fallen asleep in the car. Not unusual for him, but once transfered from the car just wanted to sleep in my bed. Then he woke up an hour later coughing and feeling warm. A netflix movie on the tv and some strawberry milk and he was feeling better. He ended up in my bed around 2:00 am and coughed ALOT last night.

This morning he woke up and announced that he was too sick to go to preschool. That I totally agree with. BUT he also announced he wanted to take a big bubble bath and watch movies all day in my bed. I knew he wasn't going to preschool but I was hoping to get out and do a few things. I need to drop off Alex's rehire packet and renew some library books. I was also hoping to play some tennis but that may not happen today. Oh well there are plenty of things that Ive been ignoring around the house for way too long that need to be attended to.

So far no one else is sick but I'm not holding out too much hope that will continue. I swear last summer we ended up getting lots of weird things. Riley got pink eye and promptly shared it with many many people. Man that stuff is just grose. Then we had the unexplained fever that lasted four days. So I guess the moral of today's blog post is that I should really stay home and disinfect the house to keep this little cold contained!!! BUT I REALLY WANT TO PLAY SOME TENNIS!!

Why weekends are so busy

As I lay in bed on Sunday night thinking about the last forty eight hours it always amazes me what we crammed into the weekend. Having four kids and a husband who works out of town doesn't leave a lot of room for lazy Sundays. Atleast there are two people to help out with the driving, but sadly sometimes not even that is enough. I've relied on my parents many many weekends to cart kids to their various activities. This weekend was really no different.

Alex had a sleepover thing Saturday night so he was the easy one. It turns out he had orientation for his new summer job on Sunday. Quick text to him letting him know there would be no sleeping in on Sunday after the sleepover. I know, call me crazy, but I was still hoping there would be some sleep involved. He's at orientation at 9:00. Olivia had a soccer game in Carson City NV at 12:30. At first this seems totally doable. Except, a soccer game that starts at 12:30 means we leave the house at 10:30. It takes over an hour to get to Carson City and she needs to be there 45 minutes early.

My plan was for Alex to walk home after orientation (work is about a fifteen minute walk). Well that plan went awry because he had so much stuff to carry. Quick, someone go out and grab Alex's stuff so he can walk home somewhat unencombered. Snacks packed, car loaded with chairs, we're now off to the soccer game. We get there and Olivia goes off to fine her team and I head to the playground with Riley. The game starts on time but really seems like it goes on alot longer than an hour.

Finally the game is done and now I have two sorta hungry kids. Off we go to Subway and then McDonalds for little ice cream cones. You gotta have ice cream when it's 60 degrees and so HOT!! We didn't get home until 3:30 and now my car has to go into the shop. Drop kids off at home and pick up the other car to be worked on. It's now 5:30 and I'm hoping dinner will make itself. Oh and Alex needs a ride to campaingers in Glenshire in a few hours.

While I sit at the computer wishing dinner would make itself I am at last remembering all the dirty clothes sitting in the laundry room. I need to wash clothes so Terry can head to work on Monday with clean clothes. Ahh the life of a mom with four kids. I think what I really need is a wife. HMMM . . . .

A Fascination with Blogs

I have wanted to start a blog for so long. It seems like something always got in the way, but I continued to read other peoples blogs for years. What makes blogs so fascinating? I think for me it's the ultimate act of voyerism. I love to sit and watch other people and how they live their lives, how the parent their children, and how they act in adversity.



Growing up my dad was in the military and we moved around alot. I got very good and picking up and moving to a new state or even country and starting over. I had to not only get used a new house, new school, but new set of dynamics. How was I going to integrate myself into the school and how was I going to make friends. One of the best ways is to sit back and observe. This strategy has worked well for me.



When reading blogs I can get a glimpse or picture of that person's life. How is their marriage, what is their relationship with God, and how are their children. It's so much easier to follow blogs than sit on a park bench and watch people at the park. It's truely amazing how connected you become to other people's familys. I have worried about kids with horrible medical problems, I've laughed at the mom who's child painted the room with vaseline, and I've prayed for the family who's husband was losing his job.



But now it's my turn. It's my turn to let others have a glimpse at my life; the good, the bad, and the truely stressful! My hope for this blog is to be as honest as possible and let others see that life gets messy with four kids, a dog, and a husband that works in another city.